The relationship of the NCATE standards to the accreditation decision

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards and certain institutional characteristics in the accreditation decision. Nine teacher education programs were investigated: three programs at the baccalaureate level (Elementary Education, Secondary Education, and Special Education), and six programs at the master's level (Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Special Education, Reading, Elementary/Secondary Principalship, and Counselor Education). A three step statistical analysis was conducted for the nine programs. In the first step, the ratings given the standards for each program by the visiting teams were normalized by applying the Van der Waerden normal scores procedure. In the second step of the analyses, the Pearson product—moment correlation coefficient (r) was computed between the accreditation decision and each of the standards and certain institutional characteristics for each program. In the third step, those standards and institutional characteristics which correlated .20 or greater with the accreditation decision were entered simultaneously into a regression model. Those variables that did not contribute significantly to R square (alpha=.l0) were subsequently removed, resulting in a "restricted" regression model containing only those variables which were statistically significant contributors to the accreditation decision.